Akhisar Hosts Konya, Bursa Aims For Top In Week 11 Openers

Week 11 of the Spor Toto Super League opens on Friday evening with Akhisar Belediyespor welcoming Torku Konyaspor to Manisa Atatürk Stadium and İstanbul Başakşehir entertaining Bursaspor at Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium.

Akhisar goes into this match in seventh place with 15 points from 10 matches, trailing front-leading Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe by five. Konyaspor is placed 12th with 12 points, but only three points separate it and Akhisar.

This means that despite the gap in the standings, both teams seem to be of equal strength and this gives added importance to Friday's game. The two sides will therefore be aiming for victory and maximum points, nothing else.

A win for Mustafa Reşit Akçay's Akhisar would catapult the Aegean side from seventh to fourth -- leapfrogging Trabzonspor, Bursaspor and rampant Mersin İdman Yurdu -- and this would truly be commendable and praiseworthy for a tiny team operating on a shoestring budget.

Torku Konyaspor also stands to gain considerably if it can accomplish the Herculean task of felling Akhisar Belediyespor on the road.

A victory would mean Mesut Bakkal's Konyaspor moving up four spots to eighth place and pulling even with Akhisar on points. But the Konyans will have to rein in Akhisar's Greek scoring machine Theofanis “Fanis” Gekas. If Bakkal's lads let the 30-something striker loose, they will only have themselves to blame. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. and the referee will be Barış Şimşek.

The 2009-10 champion Bursaspor, aka the Green Crocs, squandered a great opportunity to fell defending champion Fenerbahçe at home in week 10 on Monday by allowing the Yellow Canaries to earn a 1-1 draw in the second half, having taken an early lead in the third minute.

A new opportunity to beat an İstanbul team dawns on Friday as Şenol Güneş's Crocs -- currently placed fifth -- when they take on Abdullah Avcı's İstanbul Başakşehir on the road. Victory for the Crocs would mean overtaking Mersin İdman Yurdu and the İstanbul “Big Three” -- Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş -- and grabbing their first pole position this season.

İstanbul Başakşehir became intoxicated by victory, so to speak, thinking it had already won this season's league title after stunning off-form Galatasaray 4-0 at home in week seven. Avcı's men then lost two matches in a row -- going down 1-0 against Gençlerbirliği in Ankara in week eight and 2-1 against Beşiktaş in İstanbul in week nine. However, they pulled themselves together in week 10 last Saturday and shut out Black Sea side Çaykur Rizespor 2-0 away.

But has İstanbul Başakşehir finally turned the corner? Friday's clash against Bursaspor will be the litmus test. The game starts at 8 p.m. and will be refereed by Bülent Yıldırım.

Fixtures at a glance

Friday

19:00 Akhisar Belediyespor vs. Konyaspor (ref Barış Şimşek)
20:00 İstanbul Başakşehir vs. Bursaspor (Bülent Yıldırım)

Saturday

13:30 Kasımpaşa vs. Çaykur Rizespor (Alper Ulusoy)
16:00 Kayseri Erciyesspor vs. Balıkesirspor (Fırat Aydınus)
19:00 Gaziantepspor vs. Galatasaray (Özgür Yankaya)

Sunday

16:00 Mersin İdmanyurdu vs. Sivasspor (Mete Kalkavan)
19:00 Fenerbahçe vs. Eskişehirspor (Tolga Özkalfa)

Monday

18:00 Karabükspor vs. Beşiktaş (Mustafa Kamil Abitoğlu)
20:30 Trabzonspor vs. Gençlerbirliği (Hüseyin Göçek)

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)